“How did he hear it?”
“Hell if I know. Let this be a warning to you. He’s not his sa or Quin. Don’t underestimate that little kn?ttr. He’s smarter than he looks. Our only saving grace is that he’s lazier than shit, and more trusting than a newborn babe. No one takes him seriously. Thank God. If he’d had an ounce of anyone’s trust or any concept that someone might actually not like him, they’d be searching for you right now.”
“They’re not?”
Barnabas shook his head. “I talked him down and put it to rest. Just be more careful and make sure you know where he is before you send any more reports to your contacts. And for the love of the gods, use a secured line next time.” He moved to pour himself another drink. “So how did it go?”
“Perfect. They have no problem leaving you in as a governor once we do this. You help them take out Newell and put down any residual rebellion, and the throne’s all yours.”
“And what about you, theren?”
“What, what about me?”
“Have you a problem with my being on the throne in Newell’s place?”
“The only thing I have a problem with is the fact that Newell left me and my platoon for dead before he signed the Eudoran truce. I haven’t forgotten that. Payback’s a bitch. And this bitch wants to see him and his entire brood in the ground.”
CHAPTER 3
Bastien slowed as he neared the cold, sterile room where Alura’s family had already gathered. He’d been out on a long patrol with his sister when the emergency call had come in that his wife was in the hospital.
Lil took his hand to let him know she was with him as they entered the herd of stern-faced Wyldestarrins. As typical, Ember ignored him completely. Huddled between her sisters, he couldn’t see anything more than the top of her head.
Cinder’s wife, Tasi, was the first one to greet him. She stepped forward with a sad smile. “Hey, Bas.”
“What happened?”
Tasi glanced to Lil before she met his gaze. Her brown eyes showed the depth of her sympathy. “She went to her doctor’s appointment for her checkup and they admitted her.”
“Okay…” He waited for her to continue.
Brandon came forward. “The doctor wants to speak to you, burr.”
When Lil started to go with him, Brandon stopped her. “He wanted a private consultation.”
“No,” she said firmly. “I’m not leaving my theren alone for something this important. He needs family with him.”
“We’re his family.”
Lil swept a disdainful grimace around the group. “Tasi I’ll grant you. The rest … you’ve treated him like shit and I’m not about to abandon him to your cruelty.” She put her arm around Bastien’s waist. “He’s my kogur-theren. I’ll personally cut the throat of anyone who hurts him.”
Those words brought a lump to his throat. While they might fight ninety percent of the time themselves, he could always count on his brother and sister to be there when he needed them. It was why he loved his family so much.
They were assholes. But they were loyal assholes.
The commander stepped back and allowed him to enter the room with Lil in tow.
Alura sat in the bed with a tear-streaked face. Her mother was at her side, holding her hand. The moment Alura saw him, she burst into tears.
“Wow, Bas, still charming every woman you meet, I see,” Lil said under her breath.
He grimaced over his shoulder at his sister’s facetious humor. Feeling awkward and unsure, he went to Alura so that he could offer her a hug. “What happened?” he asked her mother.
She didn’t answer.
Instead, the doctor came forward. He glanced to Lil. “This is a private family matter.”
Lil took on her full regal haughty stature as she raked the doctor with a quelling sneer that would have impressed even their mother. “I am family, Doctor, and unless you wish to spend the rest of your career washing out bedpans, you will take an entirely new tone with me and speak to me only when I allow it and end all such sentences with ‘Zyl Latessa.’ Understood?”
He swallowed audibly as he realized what he’d just done. And to whom. “Yes, Zyl Latessa.”
“Very good. Now, answer my theren’s question and remember that he, too, is a crowned member of the royal family.”
“Yes, Zyl Latessa.” Visibly trembling, the doctor turned toward Bastien, then remembered that he wasn’t supposed to have his back to Lil.
Bastien would have been amused if he wasn’t concerned about Alura and irritated at Lil for showing her ass right now. “It’s fine, Doctor. I’m not one for protocol. I’m just worried about my wife.”
“I lost the baby, Bastien.” Alura clutched at him and wailed.
The doctor nodded. “I’m so sorry, Latenn. But she should be able to conceive again.” And with that, he beat a hasty retreat.
Alura continued to wail in his arms.
“Sh, Alura. It’ll be okay.”